Can Feelings Fix the World? (For Palestine 🇵🇸)

I am ashamed of myself. And as time passes I am only more so. But feelings are forces. Forces giving us the necessary impulse to act and make change. Remember that. 

And so, I want to scream at the world for allowing me to grow up thinking that Palestine was a country we talked about in past tense, that it was gone. I thought it was a land that only our grandparents knew about; golden and gone. You’re sneering at me too, right? But don’t worry, now I know better. With the situation in Palestine being more alarming than ever, I now know more than ever: Free Palestine, Palestine Forever. 

Palestine stands. Palestine is a country acknowledged by more than 130 countries. Palestine has history, culture and tradition, and it is beautiful. Follow @hiddenpalestine* on Instagram, they have cool posts. Besides the stunning nature, the Palestinians themselves are a gem. The piece of land has no value without it’s kind people anyways. Yet, this land is a home. A home promised by someone who does not own it, to people whom it does not belong to** (read more about the recent history of Palestine for literacy).  

And don’t think that because you’re physically not close or mentally busy with other things, that Palestine is not important to you. All the reason you need, to care and call to action, is that there are humans whose home and life is being violently, violently, taken away from them. When even the products you buy from the supermarket may or may not fund terrorists and lead to the death of Palestinians, do you still claim that you have no hand in this?

The greatest shock to me, was finding out that a whole people, the Palestinians, have had to become activists to restore the rightful acknowledgment of their country. I have seen tiny accounts on social media passionately waving “🇵🇸” the Flag of Palestine. They have no time to take selfies at the coffee shop, they have to post the colors of their flag day after day. Can you imagine being deprived from hearing the sound of home, Palestine, spoken by other people around the world? Can you imagine being constricted to a strip of land and a sea bank that doesn’t even have access to the sea? And be happy with that? 

Say Palestine. Say it out loud, for the world to hear.

I am ashamed for having hesitated to speak up for humans who need to be heard until now. How could I stop and not close the gap between my thumb and phone screen to share and make noise about a brutal reality for so many people that has been filtered out and played down on public media? 

How stupid of me to have waited for tears, before doing the right thing. 

All I needed was a little courage. Courage, everyone. It takes courage because it’s the right thing to do. Say Palestine.

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*hidden Palestine on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hiddenpalestine/?hl=en

** A home promised by someone who does not own it, to people whom it does not belong to. Balfour Declaration: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration